Premiere: Hear an Early Synth Exploration From Raymond Scott

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Later this month, Basta Music will release Raymond Scott's Three Willow Park: Electronic Music from Inner Space, 1961-1971.

The release—which drops on vinyl, CD, and digitally—is the second anthology offering from Scott, a renowned bandleader, composer and pianist from the 1930s to the 1950s. The astonishing collection contains 61 previously unreleased compositions, many of which were crafted by Scott’s Electronium, a synth invention which composed and performed using programmed intelligence. These rhythmic synth explorations are all the more jaw-dropping considering they pre-date the 1970s explosion of electronic music and rhythms on the pop charts.

All of these compositions were recorded at Willow Park Center, an industrial rental complex of offices and warehouses in Long Island where Scott researched, and experimented with his inventions. Willow Park Center and Scott's creations are visually represented in Artifacts From the Archive, a free 349-page PDF that accompanies the release.

You can stream a cut from the anthology below, with Artifacts From the Archive downloadable here.

Three Willow Park: Electronic Music from Inner Space, 1961-1971 can be pre-order here.